Your life without a computer: what does it look like? – So ask the daily writing prompt.
Being older I had the fine experience of growing up without one for the first few decades of life. I have to admit I’m glad I had that experience. I think it’s helped me maintain a balance in life with computers.
And believe me, I spend a lot of time on computers. It used to be my job for several decades also. But I realize the importance of life without these devices and living through experiences and not TicToc or YouTube.
I spent a lot more time outside and playing sports before computers. We communicated directly with each other or by phone with a cord attached to it and a rotary dial. We worked hard on memorization skills and wrote things down because we had no hard drive to store all that crap. We played games together in person.
You knew who your real friends were because they were always by your side. You had to go up and talk to girls face to face, without knowing a thing about them. If you said you were going to “hit them up” you’d be arrested for assault.
You didn’t spend time behind a game simulated driving, you were out behind the wheel or handlebars trying to keep control. Sometimes, at a younger age than the legal driving limit.
If you were into music you sat a needle down on a turntable or shoved an 8-track tape in the car unit with a folded-up empty matchbook to keep it playing at the right speed. Of course that powered a set of 6×9 Jensens with a power booster that could melt glass.
And yeah today’s technology is nice. I’m sitting here listening to headphones attached to the computer. But I miss the rack of equipment and walls of speakers that once you hit the power button and physically turn that volume dial up to foundation rattling.
If you wanted to learn something you learn by experience. Mashed fingers, wasted time, and lots of cursing, but a ton of experience along the way, learning from mistakes. No friggen YouTube videos to prevent you from putting things together wrong 2-3 times before you get it. You figured a lot of stuff out by yourself or with friends with experience.
There was the school, the library, and Encyclopedia Britannica if you sought higher knowledge.
Life would be different now because I could never be a writer. My thoughts get too far ahead of my ability to write them down longhand. With a computer, I can almost keep up.
I’d like to see the day we get back to photographic prints. I can’t stand looking at pictures on a phone or computer because the image is too small or doesn’t stay present.
Sorry to get so Old Man on this post. I enjoy the hell out of computers. I use them to enhance life, not be it. Also if this seems poorly thought out or edited, I’m only on 3 hours sleep, it was a painful evening.
In my opinion –
- Computers may have made more stupid people than smart ones.
- Computers have given us more of the have and have not society.
- Computers have made many of us lazy.
- And now with AI computers are truly DANGEROUS. Just because I grew up without one doesn’t mean I don’t have decades of experience with some very powerful ones.
- Society has become completely reliant on computers and has no manual backup systems. And bite my tongue, it’s going to crash again someday. I believe we can get ahead of ourselves at times in history. And this might be one of them.
